A Preliminary Survey on the Effect of Anthropogenic Noise to Bird Community in Gaya Island

To date, there is still scarce study that has been done looking on the impact of the anthropogenic noise in influencing the bird community in Gaya Island as it acts as an important indicator for the health of the island’s ecosystem. Hence, this preliminary study aims to determine the effect of the anthropogenic noise on the bird community in Gaya Island. The data collection was conducted for three months in three of the selected sites within the island. The methods that were being used were the point count sampling and noise mapping respectively. The anthropogenic noise level that was being measured at the selected sites ranges from 29dB to 80dB. Meanwhile, descriptive analysis, diversity indexes and correlation analysis were used to analyze the obtained data. A total of 422 individuals from 24 species and 16 families were recorded during the survey in Gaya Island. The result of the Shannon Wiener index showed that the diversity of the birds in low anthropogenic noise zone is slightly higher (H’=2.559) as compared to the bird in high anthropogenic noise zone (H’= 2.558) even though there is no significant different in terms of diversity of birds between these two zones. However, the Spearman’s correlation analysis showed a very significant and negative correlation of the anthropogenic noise with the abundance and species richness of bird (r= -0.076, p=0.000). Therefore, this study shows that the bird community is negatively affected with the increasing of anthropogenic noise in Gaya Island

Tv commercials and choice of food among children in Sabah, Malaysia

This study examines the relationships between television (TV) advertising and patterns of food choice among children. This relationship is crucial in understanding the intricate interplay among several interrelated variables such as TV viewing, preference for certain foods and the problem of obesity. Specifically, the study investigates the degree of recognition of adverts and patterns of food choice among lean, overweight and obese children. This study uses an experimental test, but the assessment of the effects of advertisements was undertaken through questionnaires. There were 50 participants involved in the experiment. The outcomes of the study indicate that TV advertisements make a substantial contribution to what food a child chooses. Although there were some variations in terms of responses between age groups and gender, generally, children seemed likely to choose fast foods after treatment. Further analyses were performed which revealed that media, particularly TV advertising, appear to contribute significantly in terms of influencing children to choose fast food, followed by taste. The study also seems to suggest that there is a strong correlation between the weight of a child and food choice. In short, children who were inclined to choose fast foods tended to be overweight or obese

1,3-Bis(2,6-diisopropyl­phen­yl)imidazolidin-2-yl­idene

The title compound, C27H38N2, is the first reported free imidazolidin-2-yl­idene carbene with 2,6-diisopropyl­phenyl groups in the 1,3-positions. The five-membered ring adopts a twisted conformation and the dihedral angle between the aromatic rings is 48.81 (6)°. Both isopropyl groups attached to one of the benzene rings are disordered over two sets of sites in 0.74 (2):0.26 (2) and 0.599 (8):0.401 (8) ratios

An Update on the Bird Population in Gaya Island

The ecosystem of small islands also plays a crucial role in serving as a habitat for birds especially the endemic and migratory birds. To date, there is still limited study that has been done in documenting the avian community in small islands such as Gaya Island in Sabah. Hence, this study aims to document and update the bird population by looking at the species richness and abundance of birds in Gaya Island. The method that was being used was solely standard point count method in three selected sampling trails for six months of survey. A total number of 524 individuals from 26 species and 17 families were recorded of which adding 16 species of birds from the past study. The value of the Shannon Wiener index and Simpson diversity index for the diversity of birds were 2.607 and 0.906 respectively. Interestingly two endemic species, two near threatened and one vulnerable species namely Philippine Megapode (Megapodius cumingii), White-crowned Shama (Copsychus strickladii), White-chested Babbler (Trichastoma rostratum), Grey-chested Jungle Flycatcher (Rhinomyias umbratilis) and Great Slaty Woodpecker (Mulleripicus pulverulentus) were sighted during the survey. The result from this study showed that Gaya Island supports diverse species of birds and play a crucial transit location for migratory bird species. Hence, it indicates for the need of further bird conservation studies in the island

Borylated Methylenephosphonium Salts: Precursors of Elusive Boryl(phosphino)carbenes

International audienceThe synthesis of a new family of boryl-substituted methylenephosphonium derivatives, the phosphorus analogues of iminium salts, has been developed. They were used in the preparation of the first stable boryl(phosphino)carbene, which has been fully characterized by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. Density functional theory calculations indicate that these carbenes can be classified as push−pull carbenes with a relatively small singlet−triplet energy gap